The non-human animal reading the mind in the eyes test (NARMET): A new measure for the assessment of social cognition

The Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RMET) is a widely applied test of social cognition, based on mental state judgments in response to photographs of human eyes, which can elicit impairment in patients with numerous psychiatric and neurological disorders. However, interpretation of task performance is limited without the use of appropriate control tasks. In addition to a matched task requiring age judgments of the RMET stimuli, it was recently shown that a mental state judgment task of comparable difficulty, could be developed using photographs of domestic cat eyes. The current study aimed to further develop a Non-human Animal RMET (NARMET) by testing additional stimuli in the form of photographs of domestic dog eyes. A variety of additional tasks were used alongside the eyes test stimuli in a large sample of healthy young adults, to explore how alexithymia, schizotypal features, and autistic tendencies may differentially influence mental state attribution in response to cat, dog, and human eyes test stimuli. The resulting NARMET features both cat and dog trials, depicting a similar range of complex mental states to the human RMET. It shows favorable psychometric properties as well as being well matched to the RMET in terms of linguistic variables, length and difficulty. However, reading measures predicted performance on the RMET, but not on the NARMET. Although further testing is required in samples with a higher proportion of males, future application of the NARMET in neuropsychiatric populations exhibiting cognitive and behavioral difficulties could offer enhanced assessment of social cognitive skills

Predictors of performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test

We explored factors associated with performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). 180 undergraduate students completed the human RMET requiring forced-choice mental state judgment; a control human Age Eyes Test (AET) requiring age judgment; a Cat Eyes Test (CET) requiring mental state judgment; and measures of executive function, empathy and psychopathology. Versions of the CET and AET were created that matched the RMET for difficulty (accuracy 71%). RMET and CET performance were strongly correlated after accounting for AET performance. Working memory, schizotypal personality and empathy predicted RMET accuracy but not CET scores. Liking dogs predicted higher accuracy on all eyes tasks, whereas liking cats predicted greater mentalizing but reduced emotional expression. Importantly, we replicated our core findings relating to accuracy and correlations between the CET and RMET in a second sample of 228 students. In conclusion, people can apply similar skills when interpreting cat and human expressions. As RMET and CET performance were found to be differentially affected by executive function and psychopathology, the use of social cognitive measures featuring non-human animals may be of particular use in future clinical research

Altered social cognition in Tourette syndrome: Nature and implications

Abstract. Behavioural, cognitive and neuroanatomical characteristics of Tourette syndrome (TS) encourage the investigation of social cognitive abilities, which are critical for successful social interaction. This exhaustive review covers studies which have addressed a range of abilities in TS including the understanding of nonliteral language, socially inappropriate exchanges, facial expressions and specific aspects of theory of mind. While the changes in social cognition in TS appear subtle, suitably sensitive measures such as the faux pas task highlight alterations in TS on tasks which involve combinations of emotional information, conflicting perspectives and decision making. Importantly, the differences on social cognitive tasks in TS do not generally reflect a failure to attribute mental states, but rather reflect unconventional responses to social information. Studies have yet to investigate social cognition in children with TS, or evaluate the contribution of common co-morbid disorders. Interpretation of the basis for task deficits is also complex, and research using carefully matched tasks is needed. Nevertheless, it is becoming evident that some aspects of social reasoning involved in decision making are altered in uncomplicated TS, and further investigation in this area may shed light on the mechanisms involved in some of the more socially disabling symptoms associated with this condition. Keywords: Tourette syndrome, tics, social cognition, theory of mind, neuropsychology Why investigate social cognition in Tourette syndrome? Social cognition encompasses a collection of skills needed for successful interaction within the social world, including Theory of Mind (ToM): the ability to understand people's mental states, such as beliefs and emotions. As Tourette syndrome (TS) is primarily seen as a movement disorder, it may not initially be apparent why the assessment of social cognition is of value to understanding this condition. However, there are many features of TS which suggest that the study of social cognitive processes is of relevance. * Corresponding author: Prof Andrea E. Cavanna, Department of Neuropsychiatry, The Barberry National Centre for Mental Health, 25 Vincent Drive, Birmingham B15 2FG, UK. Tel.: +44 121 301 2317; Fax: +44 121 301 2291; E-mail: andrea.cavanna@bsmhft. nhs.uk. In relation to the behavioural symptoms of TS, Kurlan et al. [1] describe non-obscene socially inappropriate symptoms (NOSIS), which are characterised by urges to act in a socially inappropriate way or make socially inappropriate remarks including insults. These authors report that approximately 25-30% of individuals with TS report experiencing NOSIS. While a range of forms of dangerous complex or self-defeating tics can be seen in TS, NOSIS are specifically related to the surrounding social context, and therefore possess both significant social relevance and impact. The existence of NOSIS phenomena indicate that individuals with TS appear to be sensitive to their social environment and that this may interact in some way with patients' symptoms, prompting the assessment of social cognition. Cognitive functioning in general has been assessed in TS. A review of studie

I understand your pain but I do not feel it: lower affective empathy in response to others’ social pain in narcissism

Introduction: While the relationship between narcissism and empathy has been well-researched, studies have paid less attention to empathic accuracy, i.e., appreciating the precise strength of another person’s emotions, and self-other distinction, in terms of the disparity between affective ratings for self and other in response to emotive stimuli. Furthermore, empathic responses may vary depending on whether the pain is physical or social.Methods: We investigated empathic accuracy, affective empathy, and the distinction between pain, emotion and intensity ratings for self and other, in high (n = 44) and low (n = 43) narcissism groups (HNG and LNG, respectively) selected from 611 students, in response to both types of pain. Participants watched six videos where targets expressed genuine experiences of physical and social pain, and rated the perceived affect and pain experienced by the person in the video and their own empathic emotional responses.Results and discussion: The HNG displayed lower affective empathy and empathic accuracy than the LNG for both pain types. Within the HNG there was higher empathic accuracy for social vs. physical pain, despite reduced affective empathy for social pain, in contrast to the LNG. In addition to this paradox, the HNG demonstrated greater differences between ratings for the self and for target others than the LNG, suggesting that narcissism is associated with higher self-other distinction in response to viewing other people describing social pain